FE1: Wendell and Maric shouldn't be a tier apart

First off, Wendell doesn't have Merric's below average earlygame. Excalibur negates it slightly, but you still don't want to blow it all on some earlygame putzes.

While he can't staff whore for EXP, healing is still useful especially due to how badly Lena and Riff phail [Those two need to drop, btw], with Wendell around earlygame we don't need to put up with them and their suck. But the main thing here is durability. Since the FE1 Attack formula ignores magic, durability is really the only way to compare Wendell and Maric as far as doing mage shit goes.

They gain EXP at equal rates, and Merric only has about two quarters of two different chapters before Popemeister joins. I'll even be nice and give Merric a one-level lead.

13 Merric: 30 HP, 6 def12 Wendell: 29 HP, 9 def

Nope, Merric's still getting his clock cleaned after all this time.

Now, I remember guiding rings being a slight problem in Book 1. I have no idea if that's the same case here, but although Merric is your best (likely only) competition for a Guiding Ring , they still come late (The first one can come as late as C19, MAYBE earlier...), and both will likely level cap before it comes.

20 Merric: 35 HP, 8 def20 Wendell: 33 HP, 10 def

So we're stuck at a 2 HP vs 2 def, which is a tie at best. Def>HP, generally, and Wendell's mov and staves more than breaks the tie.

Any wins Maric has by this point are marginal compared to how badly Wendell was raeping him for about 18~ chapters.

So why on earth is Merric a tier UP on him?

EDIT: In other news, there is no Miracle Sword in the game that anybody not named Marth can use, so even if it could double EXP, Est is shit out of luck and shouldn't be as high as she is. Lowering Est, a lot.